23 Watt CFL bulbs for indoor video shoot

[boo]

Looking for recommendation for 23watt(100 w equivalent) CFL bulbs for an indoor home shoot. i noticed they come in different spectrum ratings. anyone have experience with these?

thanks!

 

[Paul Hudson]

It depends on many things. For example, are you trying to balance to daylight that is already in the room? If so, look for lamps in the 5500 degree range.

If you are trying to balance to incandescents that are in the home you will want something much warmer -- at least 3200 but maybe as low as 2000 degrees.

These lamps are cheap. Just buy several for your kit so you are prepared for all possibilities.

 

[Gary]

I use them almost exclusively. That is, along with led lighting. I have a 2 fotodiox 9 socket fixtures that I have loaded with nu vision daylight balanced bulbs. That would be 2 fixtures with a total of 18 bulbs. I made a decision to go completely daylight balanced a while ago and haven't looked back. I guess I got tired of fighting daylight with my tungsten bulbs. I had to do some modifications to the fixtures so that it would direct the light.

 

[boo]

Thank you for your replies. =)

Shoot will be in the living room so i will be balancing to daylight, no incandescents. looking to purchase 24 of these.

i figure, this is what i am looking for, anything cheaper than this(by the bulk): http://www.amazon.com/28923FS-23-watt-5500K-Spectrum-Mini-SpringLamp/dp/B000NJAAQM

any links greatly appreciated!

 

[djkarn105]

I bought several in bulk from http://www.1000bulbs.com/

They're spendier than at the hardware store but you know for certain the color temp you're getting. I bought of each color temp ( incandescent 27k , tungsten 32k, and daylight 57k ) and replaced the practicals in the room with them depending on the scene. I know at home depot, the "Bright White" (the one in the red box) is 32k and "Soft White" is 27k but I had trouble finding these in larger sizes.

I have to say that this made our shoot sooooooo much easier as all the grips had to do for setup was replace the bulbs and positions a couple 200's we used to augment the shots on closeup. This made coverage a breeze as we could change the angle with very little worry about lighting setups.

 

[Richard J. Johnson]

Nice find. I just ordered a bunch.

I bought several in bulk from http://www.1000bulbs.com/

They're spendier than at the hardware store but you know for certain the color temp you're getting. I bought of each color temp ( incandescent 27k , tungsten 32k, and daylight 57k ) and replaced the practicals in the room with them depending on the scene. I know at home depot, the "Bright White" (the one in the red box) is 32k and "Soft White" is 27k but I had trouble finding these in larger sizes.
.

 

[boo]

djkarn, thank you for that link! exactly what i was looking for and very informative.

ok, here's my plan. shoot talent in front of a white background. will be shooting indoors during the day so will be matching to daylight. all lighting will be with these cfl's(lighting of white screen and seperate lighting of talent). should i purchase the 5500k cfl's as paul suggested above? it'll cost $8 per cfl. i see there is also 5000k and 6500k for only $3 per cfl. also, 4100k coming close to a cool white.

your thoughts? thanks again!

 

[djkarn105]

also, bring a bunch of the angle and y adapters. You can use them to fit multiple cfls in one socket. Watch your max wattage but 2x23w cfls is about the same output as 200w incandescent and is still under 60 which most ceiling fixtures are rated at.